This translation of Alle radici del mondo giuridico europeo published in Italy in 1994 is a comprehensive reappraisal of thinking on the common structural features of the various European jurisdictions. Professor Lupoi argues the case for the existence of an earlier system of common law as far back as between the sixth and eleventh centuries. Based on vulgar Roman legal culture and various Germanic customs, this law was codified in Latin and survives in modified form in modern English common law. Legal sources from all over Europe are compared and discussed. Cultures formerly considered to be 'barbarian' emerge in a different light and common strands are seen to emerge.

Table of Contents

List of abbreviations; 1. The early Middle Ages: a comparative approach; 2. A historical and institutional profile of the Roman empire in the fourth and fifth centuries; 3. Excursus I: 'barbarians'; 4. Historical and institutional profiles of the 'new dominations'; 5. Excursus II: the days of the week; 6. Excursus III: Anglo-Saxon charters; 7. Consensus by assembly; 8. Excursus IV: authority and consensus in judicial decisions; 9. Public allegiance; 10. Excursus V: the Anglo-Saxon writ; 11. Private allegiance; 12. Open legal systems; 13. Excursus VI: textual 'coincidences' in documentary forms; Chronology of popes and sovereigns; Appendix of sources; Bibliography; Index.